Northampton academy was delighted to welcome back former students to our annual Alumni afternoon. Visitors ranged from former students who left last year to enjoy university, apprenticeships and gap years; to students who left as far back to 2008.
This provided the current Year 12 students an insight into the journeys of the people who sat exactly where they are sitting now.
Events like this provide up to date advice on pathways that our students are starting to consider. Our Alumni panel presented to the year group, offering advice on all aspects of life at university and getting into the workplace.
Tremaine Richard-Noel, an entrepreneur who is a Managing Partner of a music management company, Richard-Noel & Co, posed the question,n ‘Who can you be?’ as part of his keynote presentation, offering the answer as, ‘Anything & everything’. He bases this outlook on his experience of becoming an entrepreneur, having changed from his former aspiration of wanting to study medicine (he studied Bio-medicine as joint honors with Music), to train as a musician, learn to compose and conduct an orchestra. Success has followed from dreaming big and having the nerve to ask, ‘Why not?' instead of ‘Why?’.
Current students were then offered the opportunity of networking with the Alumni visitors, a more informal set up allowing them to ask questions on a one to one basis or in small groups.
We believe it is important to prepare our students for the steps after Sixth Form by allowing them to access information from those who have, ‘been there and done it’ and returned to tell the tale. Our thanks go to all our former students, for giving us their time and for mentoring the next generation.